LAMBERTVILLE — There were no architectural drawings at this week's announcement that Phillips-Barber Health Center will be rebuilt. No one at Hunterdon Healthcare would say just when a shovel will go in the ground.

Over the coming months, officials expect to survey 1,000 area residents and patients. Hunterdon Healthcare says it will use those responses to help guide what comes next on the 8-acre site on the northwestern side of Music Mountain.

There is also a hurdle to overcome — part of the property currently isn't within the Lambertville Municipal Utilities sewer service area.

Expanding the coverage area to include the entire site is "doable," Mayor David DelVecchio said, but will "take time."

The health center started in 1970 in the old town doctor's office, and moved two years later to the very-1972 building where it has operated since then. Seed money came from the estates of two city bankers.

Medicine has changed over the past few decades, center director Dr. Terry Shlimbaum said this week, excited at the prospect of more space, because it will allow doctors to give "more comprehensive, patient-centered" care.

In addition to a new family health center, some possibilities are: health-and-wellness services — Hunterdon Healthcare already has two wellness centers with full work-out facilities in the northern end of the county — sub-specialty medical care, physical therapy, laboratory services, a physician resident training center, integrative medicine and outpatient behavioral health.

In order to have the new health center better reflect the community, there could be lobby art displays, community gardens and community meeting space.

Several doctors from Phillips-Barber, in addition to Shlimbaum, spoke at this week's announcement of Hunterdon Healthcare's plan to rebuild the health center. Each mentioned the health center's family physician residency program, which graduates six yearly.

Shlimbaum said that those graduates can be found in medical offices "all over the country, and the world." He said that the staff is "so proud of that legacy."

Other doctors talked about why that's so, including the breadth of training a family physician receives as a resident here and the retention rate of graduates in the area — important because of shortages of family doctors in other parts of the country.

Dr. Victoria Cox said that she came here as a resident and stayed, one of two Phillips-Barber family doctors who are also obstetricians/gynecologists. "You leave our program able to do anything. That's really unusual on the East Coast," she said.

Phillips-Barber opened its doors in 1972 in a then-new building with 11 examining rooms. Also on the site is the Lambertville-New Hope rescue squad and banquet hall.

In addition to opinions, Hunterdon Healthcare will be asking residents and businesses for donations, which it will match. Visit donatetohunterdonhealthcare.org or call 908-788-6141.